In light of the news about Amanda Todd I decided to do a post on bullying. For those of you who don’t know, she was a high school student who was gossiped about and bullied so relentlessly after sharing a picture of herself online, that she felt there was no other solution than to take her life.

There have been similar cases. In 2006, Megan Meier also committed suicide after bullying from a “boy” who turned out to be her friend’s mother. The news that an adult had done this shocked many people, including Megan’s parents. It made people realize that adults can be bullies too Bullying isn’t just a school problem, or kids being kids. That being said, I will be specifically looking at school bullying and the way that adults may enable it unintentionally. I will also be looking at it from a cultural perspective-as an attempt to keep in the margins of society and know where those margins lie, somebody needs to keep order. Unfortunately this is often done in an abusive way when somebody has done something or acted in a way that is socially unacceptable to the people around them. This allows for people to be marginalized and for the social order to be maintained when someone has attempted to disrupt it.

Anybody can be a bully, and anybody can be bullied. Bullying is a problem with hierarchy and trying to figure out the structure of the social order through the use of intimidation, fighting, exclusion, shaming, etc. It occurs when the structure is not defined, and it is an attempt to create a structure where there is none. Bullying creates roles for people who previously had none. Bullying, at the same time as excluding victims, includes tormentors. “We are constantly being policed. We are constantly being watched, being surveilled: ‘Are you performing properly?’ If that were not true, we wouldn’t have bullying. That’s what bullying is. Bullying is surveillance. Bullying is policing to the nth degree. Bullies are almost like a Gestapo on behalf of the social order. They point out difference and they try to bring you in to what would be considered to be the dominant norm.” (Humphreys, lecture) It can be devastating to have to deal with bullies, because by being policed, people have to justify who they are and explain why they are who they are to people to try to fit in. If they don’t fit in, the consequences are horrendous.

Occasionally, people are willing to stand up to bullies. Days such as Pink Shirt Day have gone international because of people’s reactions to bullying. Commercials have been launched as part of an anti-bullying campaign over the past few years. Most are aimed directly at kids and placed on children’s television channels.

Think of a circle as society. The dot in the middle represents the apex of society, the ideal citizen which in Western culture is male, rich, well educated, ideal body, heterosexual, etc.

“What we value most is in the centre. Everything else is progressively out towards, but still within the margins. If someone is marginalized or an idea is marginalized it’s put out on the fringes of the social order. It’s on the margins of the social order. Often there’s no explanation given. If you’re not accepted somewhere, you’re marginalized.” (Humphreys, lecture) In Western culture, we value the ideal body shape, so if someone does not have the ideal body shape, they are marginalized. Males are the dominant gender, females are marginalized, etc. We also have the use of contact zones, where people cross those boundaries, but it is discouraged. School is a society with a social order and so naturally, there are hierarchies that are followed and contact zones. Not just with teacher-student relations, but with peer interactions. Bullying is about making sure that nobody tries to cross these boundaries, and that the hierarchy is established. Social exclusion makes sure that the idea of the circle and the order of society is followed, and those who are on the margins are put into their place.

Bullies are respected and/or feared and use the power they have to intimidate others. They are the ones who control the social order. They are usually at the apex, and they get to decide what is being judged to keep themselves there. In Blubber the bully is “class president… group science leader, recess captain, and head of the goldfish committee.” (Blume, 2). She is popular and therefore has agency in the classroom. When the teacher is present, the structure of the classroom is visible, with the teacher as the apex and the girl second because she has been given a position of leadership and responsibility. When the teacher leaves however, she has to re-establish herself, not as close to the apex, but at the apex. To hold on to that position, she uses a cultural ideal to enforce why she should be at the apex. The class values the size of their bodies. The bigger somebody is, the farther away they are from the centre. She is able to enforce this by using intimidation to such an extreme that it becomes normal. “Everybody knows you don’t cross Wendy.” (Blume, 34). Nobody questions what she does, and follows her in the hopes of gaining her approval. “As Linda climbed onto the bus Wendy shouted ‘Here comes Blubber!’ and a bunch of kids called out ‘Hi Blubber!'” (Blume, 8). She keeps her place in the hierarchy by letting others know that they are subordinate. This includes making threats, “and remember… one word to anyone about this and we’ll really get you next time,” (Blume, 34) and psychological abuse, “Wendy…made copies of…. How to Have Fun with Blubber [and]… passed them out. We made Linda say, I am Blubber, the smelly whale of class 206. We made her say it before she could use the toilet…before she ate her lunch and before she got on the bus…It was easy to get her to do it. I think she would have done anything we said…Two days later she was saying I am Blubber, the smelly whale of class 206 without anyone forcing her to.” (Blume, 89) to ensure that her role is safe and silence the victim. She maintains the order by keeping the teachers unaware of the bullying. When the teachers are notified of bullying, she manipulates them to keep the order which she has established among her peers. “‘Well… this comes as a surprise to me… I just can’t believe my class would do such a thing.’… ‘Linda has a lot of imagination,’ Wendy said. Only Wendy could sit there telling lies to Mr. Nichols as if he were a regular person instead of the principal of our school. ‘I knew there had to be an explanation,’ Mrs. Minish said.” (Blume, 93-94). She keeps control by not letting the teachers know that the students have their own hierarchy. At the same time she is able to silence the victim who risks disrupting the social order.

In the Harry Potter series Harry is bullied in both the Muggle World by his cousin Dudley, and in the Wizarding World by Draco Malfoy. In the Muggle world, the social order is defined by how “perfectly normal” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 7) people are. This category includes the Dursleys, and their son Dudley. The Potters are as “unDurselyish as it was possible to be.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 7). They are abnormal and marginalized in the Muggle world, and Dudley, having been brought up in the Muggle world, takes his views about Harry from his parents. In this context, adults encourage their children to maintain a social hierarchy that has already been established. The Dursleys perception of him as “a baby angel” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 21) and their belief that “there was no finer boy anywhere.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 7) conflicts with the depiction of Dudley given by McGonagall to Dumbledore. “I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 15). What the Dursleys say and what people see are very contradictory. What the Dursleys think of themselves and of Dudley has to be dismissed because they do not have an accurate view of what Dudley’s actions really say about him as a person. The Durselys warped perception of Dudley allows him to get away with being mean to Harry. “Harry’s status as a wizard makes him different from children his age in the Muggle world.” (Galway). He uses this to his advantage, often using fake tears to get Harry into trouble. When he is faced with the news that Harry has to go to his birthday party, he exaggerates his disappointment, to make Harry feel unwanted. “[Dudley] wasn’t really crying…but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted…’I… don’t… want… him… t-t-to come!’ Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. ‘He always sp-spoils everything!’ He shot Harry a huge nasty grin through the gap in his mother’s arms.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 22) Even though his parents dislike Harry, Dudley manipulates them further to keep him outside of the margins. Dudley is not feared as much as he believes he is, as the story, told from Harry’s point of view, narrates Harry’s thoughts. As much as Dudley’s tantrums are dangerous and mean, they are also childish and predictable.”Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over… Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly: ‘And we’ll buy you another two presents while we’re out today. How’s that, popkin?’… Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 21) Dudley is made fun of through Harry’s actions and his thoughts. It is revealed that although Dudley is a bully, he’s also not very bright, and Harry acts comically when he believes that Dudley is about to get angry, by quickly finishing his food so that it doesn’t go to waste. He still gets what he wants, and keeps out of the argument, but thinks of Dudley as someone with flaws, different from the way he has been characterized so far as a bully.

However, in the fantasy space of Hogwarts the issues of class and bloodline make Harry different from children his age in the wizarding world. These are apparent with the introduction of Malfoy. Malfoy has power because he is a pureblood and upper class. He gloats about his wealth and he taunts Harry for having “no proper Wizard feeling” (Chamber of Secrets, Rowling, 166). He bullies Harry not for being different, but for behaving in a way that is unexpected. It is because Harry has no concept of the bloodlines and the class system and how it structures the social order at Hogwarts (and he rejects it once he does understand) that he is the target of bullying. He is also influenced by his circumstances surrounding him, allowing what his father says to influence him without questioning it.”He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, ‘Father says to keep my head down and let the heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it.'” (Chamber of Secrets, Rowling, 167) In some instances, the structure at school is structured the way that other communities are. At Hogwarts, the structure is based in the same way that the wizard world is. “Malfoy’s eagle was always bringing him packages and sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 108). The social hierarchy is not something that has been created at school, but a result of the hierarchy present in the wizard world as a whole. They mimic the structure that has been set up in the community. Children are aware of the margins and how they function in society and so they sometimes structure their environment that way as well.

In Will’s Garden by Lee Maracle, the bullying is directed at specific groups. The bullies act collectively to marginalize people in other groups who they feel are inferior to them. Some of the groups have already been set up by the school in the cafeteria. Everybody sits with their own clique and culture divides them as well. As a result, the bullies seem dependent on each other and are for the most part, not referred to individually. “Every chance the jocks get, they say something crude about ‘Indians’. (Maracle, 33) They do not seek out individuals based on their appearance or family, but ostracize people based on their culture.”If they were thoughtful, they would have better words coming out of their mouth…They don’t treat each other very well. They rag on their buddies for losing a game, being late, and not being where they are supposed to be. Just about anything gets their goat.” (Maracle, 34) They are mean to entertain themselves. As it is revealed that the jocks don’t even treat each other well they are not as invested in keeping the order of hierarchy intact, but are concerned with themselves. One jock is singled out as a bully, but to offer a way to join the two groups together. He is recognized as a person who “just wants some kind of closure.” (Maracle, 79). He does not want to enforce the margins of the school community, but he is expected to. It is not what he wants, and he has no more power than the victim does. “His father is going to kill him for getting kicked off the team. ‘Bully anyone you want, but don’t get caught,’ is his father’s cardinal rule….He encouraged Jack all through grade school to bully me, but always with the dictum, ‘Don’t get caught.’ Whenever Jack did get caught, his father became his personal private bully.” (Maracle, 79). He is pressured to be a jock, be at the centre of the apex, and bully others who are not. Bullies are also victims of the social order, and it is very difficult to change once it has been set up.

Victims are pushed out onto the margins of society by the bully. In Blubber Linda is teased for being overweight. Unlike Wendy, who is described by the positions she holds, Linda is described by her appearance. “Linda’s head is shaped like a potato and sits right on her shoulders, as if she hasn’t got any neck. She’s also the pudgiest girl in our class.” (Blume, 4). She tries to ignore the teasing, because she understands the social order in the class. On the bus, the social order is much like at the school, and so she “didn’t say anything. She just sat there, looking out the window.” (Blume, 9). She is forced to admit to the class that being overweight is a shortcoming and that she does belong on the margins. She “eats by herself.” (Blume, 52) because she has been socially excluded for not meeting the idealized standards of Western beauty. She attempts to change this by dieting, “She had her lunch spread out on her desk- two pieces of celery, one slice of yellow cheese and a package of saltine crackers… ‘I’m going to lose ten pounds and then you won’t be able to call me that name anymore.'” (Blume, 60) but is told that “even if you weigh fifty pounds you’ll still be a smelly whale.” (Blume, 61) as a means to keep her on the fringes of the class’ society.

Jill gets bullied after she decides to stop teasing Linda. She then becomes the target, and Linda joins the bullies. They bully Jill in a different way. Since her weight is in the margins of what is normal in the class, the children use language to alienate her. Ignorance of language can make it difficult for outcasts to be accepted into society, and it is often deliberate; using codes, and the goal is to always try to keep the victim guessing. This book is very realistic; exposing how cruel kids can be and how the threat of having the teasing turned to someone else is a very real fear that many kids have. She is given Linda’s former place, and when trying to regain control of her former place she is told by Wendy that “‘Her name is Linda and don’t you forget it B.B.’ Everybody laughed. What did B.B mean? And since when was Linda Wendy’s friend?” (Blume, 134-135). She is left out of the class’s society and therefore does not have access to their language as she once did. She is unable to defend herself, and unable to make a reply without exposing her new status as an outsider. She finds out information as they allow her to. They have control of what language she can access, and has to rely on them to survive in the contact zone. “At lunch I found out B.B means Baby Brenner. It could have been worse. Wendy put a diaper pin on my desk with a note attached to it. Baby Brenner better change her diapers. She’s smelling up the whole room!” (Blume, 136) This is enforced by the class, who “all held their noses when [she] came near them.” (Blume, 137) She is unable to communicate with them, and it leaves her ostracized. “During lunch period Wendy wrote on the blackboard, B.B loves W.W ‘What’s that mean?’ Irwin asked… ‘Baby Brenner is in love with Warren Winkler.’ That was just too much. ‘I am not!’ I told everybody. ‘That’s a big lie!’ Then Wendy whispered something to Linda and both of them laughed.” (Blume 137) As the target of bullying, she is unable to defend herself because she depends on them to access the language used in the class. She is spoken about by others, and because she does not know what they are saying, she can not tell anybody.

As a book in the fantasy genre, Harry starts off as an average kid. He is “small and skinny for his age.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 20) while Dudley is “about four times bigger than he was.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 20). Dudley and Harry are foils to each other. Harry is disliked by his aunt and uncle while Dudley is adored, Dudley is clearly bigger than Harry by about four sizes. By being set up as a foil with Dudley, who has already been outed as a bully Harry is set up as the victim. This is confirmed when explaining that his glasses were “held together with a lot of Sellotape, because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 20) Dudley and Harry’s fights are physical; different from the fighting in Blubber, which mostly uses humiliation to exclude victims.

When Harry finds out that he is a wizard, his first thought is that “there had been a horrible mistake…. He’d spent his life being clouted by Dudley…If he’d once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 47) As Harry is victimized, and raised by the Durselys to expect no other status in a community but as an outsider, he chooses not to believe that he is a wizard. “Hogwarts offers him the opportunity to make friends with people who can understand him—something which the series implies Muggles are incapable of doing… At [Hogwarts] he is no longer alone and achieves a sense of belonging when he forms enduring friendships.” (Galway) As the contact zone between Muggle and Wizard are left behind, so is his victim status, at least for a while. In Hogwarts, the students are all at the same start of learning. He is comforted by the fact that “he wasn’t miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn’t had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn’t have much of a head start.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 100) Everybody is in the same position regarding their knowledge of magic abilities and spells. He still still ignorant of the language, and when he realizes that He is expected to “have [an] idea what a bezoar [is.]” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 102) his ignorance allows for Malfoy to use it against him. Unfortunately, every community has contact zones, and so if he doesn’t conform to them, he risks being bullied again. No matter how famous he is at Hogwarts, and even if he is a wizard, Harry is still subjected to bullying, because the community is not structured at Hogwarts by how well-known his name is: It is structured through contact zones of class.

Harry changes from being dependent on the Dursely’s to having more money than he knows what to do with. For the whole scene click here.

Harry is made to switch his contact zones. One thing preventing him from leaving the Dursely’s home is that he “hasn’t got any money…and…[Uncle Vernon] won’t pay for [Harry] to go and learn magic.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 50). He is someone who belongs on the margins at Hogwarts, until he sees that in his bank vault he has “mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 58). He finds out that in the Wizard World people had “grown up knowin’ yer name.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 61), and that he is famous.

Harry is ignored at the Durselys, and “never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.” (Chamber of Secrets, Rowling, 174). So he is already moved closer to the apex when he finds he is famous and makes friends with Ron and Hermione, even though they are also marginalized. “When Harry first meets Ron, he senses that he does not have any money and, with “pockets rattling with gold and silver” for the first time in his life (Philosopher’s 76), insists on treating them both to a slew of treats off the trolley: “‘Go on, have a pasty,’ said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry’s pasties and cakes” (76).” (Galway) He is no longer ignorant once he becomes friends with Ron, but is still made to feel like an outsider. “Hogwarts is an institution to which only a select few can gain entry. While the reader is clearly encouraged to reject Malfoy’s snobbery and his disdain for Ron Weasley, the fact remains that Ron comes from a wizarding family and belongs to the elite society represented in Hogwarts. He may not be wealthy, but he is nevertheless an insider who can explain this world to Harry.” (Galway) He is able to fill in the gaps in Harry’s knowledge, offering him more access to the world of Hogwarts by explaining the terminology. “Mudblood’s a really foul name for someone who was Muggle-born-you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards- like Malfoy’s family- who think they’re better than everyone else because they’re what people call pure-blood…It’s a disgusting thing to call someone…Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It’s mad. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.” (Chamber of Secrets, Rowling, 89). Through Ron, he is able to grasp the meaning of the language and understand another social indicator in the community- bloodline. There is a dislike for all Muggle borns by the pure bloods. The belief of people such as Malfoy are that Muggle-borns should not be allowed in. He says this at the beginning when he is being introduced in the series for the first time: “I don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they got the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 61) Muggle borns are “othered” even more so than those of lower class. Ron maintains some status because he has wizard blood, even though he is lower class.

In the movie, it is Hermione who explains to Harry what a Mudblood is, even though it is Ron who tries to defend her.

The book shows how escaping a certain environment because of bullies doesn’t always necessarily work, because a person’s location does not determine how people act. It would be dangerous to generalize and say that bullying only exists in schools, or in one part of the world. It exists online, it exists between siblings, masquerading as “sibling rivalry.” It even exists between adults at work. Escaping a bully is not a guarantee that somebody won’t be bullied again. It exists everywhere, even in the magical world of Hogwarts. The only way to deal with it is to surround yourself with friends and try to limit the exposure to negative people.

Draco Malfoy is fully aware of Harry’s popularity before he even enters Hogwarts, so, feeling threatened, he tries to push Harry into the margins. He is a pureblood, and higher class, and so scorns Ron for being of lower class, and Hermione for being a Muggle. He dislikes Harry for associating with the two, and tries to make it difficult for him to be accepted in the community. I have heard that this conflict is an allegory for the Holocaust. The use of bloodline then, does not simply allow for bullying, but for extermination: The bullying is only a result of the larger problems in the Wizard world.

Looking at the contact zone structured through bloodline, Hermione is the victim. Malfoy refers to her as a “filthy little Mudblood” and despite her knowledge of Hogwarts she is not accepted in the community by people such as Malfoy, and other pure bloods. Knowledge is not a factor of popularity in school, and may in fact even work against her. She is ignored by the other girls at the school, and befriends Harry and Ron. Ron and Harry do different things from Hermione, even though she wants to join in. She eventually does join in but in a different way… She’s like a handmaiden to their adventures. Even though she is the most the cleverest witch of her age. She’s not central to the story.” (Humphreys, lecture) She is different from Ron and Harry in that she is female, and also from a different lineage than they are- their parents were wizards, hers are not. Nevertheless, they form a group as outcasts. Instead of being alone, they have managed to bond together to become a group of their own and attempt to ignore Malfoy. Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s status as victim is not as severe as it would be if they were alone, and because of Harry’s fame they would be able to ignore the concept of contact zones altogether if they wished. His popularity means that they have “[created] a context that enables or prevents personal factors from translating into action.” (Pöyhönen et al.) Although they are bullied, it is not by the entire community, only the ones at the perceived center.

Will is alienated because he is not part of the dominant culture at his school. “You can have cultures of people who are utterly marginalized.” (Humphreys, lecture) He is not the only student who is bullied but he is affected by it more than others, as he misinterprets his friends advice. “When I hear Tony telling me to not take them so seriously, I hear ‘put up with it’ in my mind.” (Maracle, 34) They use terms which are racist to dehumanize him; and “gave me a hard time, calling me ‘Chief’ and ‘Smoked Meat’ and occasionally tackling too rough in practice. I have been injured more times by my teammates than our opponents.” (Maracle, 79) He tries to speak to them; and reminds himself that even though they have dehumanized him, they are still human. “I figure the jocks are hoping for some raw Siwash rage. Don’t give it to them buddy. I feel my rage come up…transform it into courage and drop it between my legs. It’s there, it isn’t going anywhere and now I have endless courage and I can think straight. Sarah’s words come back: Respect Jack.” (Maracle, 128) To Will, Jack is not a bad person. He is somebody who has made a mistake, and it is easier to confront Jack in this way. He makes it clear that he will not be walked over anymore, and just wants to survive high school. He does not care about the margins, he only wants to be “let to live.” (Maracle, 80).

I’ve said this before, but adults have no idea what goes on in the lives of children. Kids hang out with other kids, they are in a world separate from adults. Bullying may seem like a rite of passage, but it shouldn’t be. It’s getting harsher, the kids are getting meaner; with the use of social networking it’s allowing for people to say things anonymously that they would never say in front of someone, and it’s dangerous. It isn’t just adults that are separated from kids, sometimes kids have to separate themselves from other kids to try to keep safe.

The problem with this commercial is that while it does recognize that bullying contains more than two roles, it forgets to mention that speaking up can be hard. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Bullies want people to be scared of them, the more people who know and are scared, the better it is. They remain as the head of the hierarchy through the use of fear. The more people who know that they use fear, the more recognition they get of their place in the system. It’s easy to say that people should not be bystanders, but stand up to bullies but if that means independently doing so, it offers the bully another target.

Most bullying is done by collectively ganging up on someone who seems different in some way. Sometimes there are no visible scars. Words can act as a weapon. In this clip, they actually fly around and show physical violence. Even though words really can’t do that, the effects can be the same or worse than physical violence. Words are powerful.

Blubber is told from the perspective of Jill, a girl who takes part in bullying her classmate because of her size. Jill switches roles depending on the context of where she is and how she feels. “Bullying is a group phenomenon in which members of a school class assume different participant roles, including assistants and reinforcers of the bully who enable and maintain the bullying, as well as defenders of the victim who try to stop the bullying. Students who stay out of the bullying situations are viewed as outsiders.” (Karna et al.) Just like adults, children are constantly changing to suit the context of their world, they behave differently depending on where they are, and their moods change depending on how they are feeling which in turn motivate their actions. To categorize children into different roles in the context of bullying (or anytime for that matter) just doesn’t work because people as individuals are much more complex. “Wendy passed a note to Caroline. Caroline read it, then…passed it to me. I unfolded it. It said Blubber is a good name for her. I smiled, not because I thought the note was funny, but because Wendy was watching me. When she turned away I crumpled it up and left it in the corner of my desk.” (Blume, 4-5). Jill taunts Linda when the class is acting as a group, but also on her own: “‘A person gets what she deserves’ I sang…Tracy had a piece of blue chalk with her and….both of us laughed like crazy as we wrote Blubber lives here all over the street.” (Blume, 43) She plays the roles of assistant, outsider, and bully because she wants to fit in. To fit in with the bully however, it means that she has to continually make sure that Linda is marginalized. She has to dehumanize Linda to justify why the class treats her the way that they do. She is surprised then, when in a different community, Linda has the ability to laugh. “Kenny was reciting one of his dumb jokes and right in the middle Linda laughed! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know she knew how.” (Blume, 110) By dehumanizing Linda, she was able to separate herself from the act of hurting someone with feelings. In a different community the margins not being defined causes Jill to see that Linda is human. “The effects of victimization might be stronger or weaker depending on the classmates’ behavior when someone is victimized.” (Karna et al.) The desire for all the students to remain in their social hierarchy they have created is so great, that they don’t wish to change it and risk social exclusion.

In Blubber the community is structured using weight as a measurement of social acceptance. The further away a classmate is from the ideal body shape, the further away they are from the apex of the classroom hierarchy. Linda is bullied for being overweight, however “Ruthellen Stark and Elizabeth Ryan are about ten times fatter than Linda.” (Blume, 4). Ruthellen and Elizabeth are not present in the classroom when the bullying starts. They are able to prevent themselves from being marginalized by joining the bullying on the bus, because they are still able to participate in other contexts, they are not targeted. “‘Oooh…disgusting!’ Ruthellen Stark moaned, clutching her stomach.” (Blume, 9). The fear that others have of being excluded or bullied is what causes them to taunt rather than defend Linda. “The victim of bullying frequently carries a social stigma, whereas the bully has a lot of power within the peer group (Juvonen & Galván, 2008; Salmivalli et al., 2009; Teräsahjo & Salmivalli, 2003). Therefore it is not surprising that possible reasons for not intervening in bullying situations on behalf of the victim include concern over becoming the next victim and an aim to increase one’s own status by acting more like the one in power (Juvonen & Galván)… In addition to personal factors, children’s social status within the peer group is an important determinant when it comes to the ability and courage to act upon emotions and cognitions.” (Pöyhönen et al.) They hope that participating will allow them to move closer to the center of the community. They may not be high in the community, but they are closer to the apex than Linda is. Some also join the bully to keep their place in the community. Donna “has one of those perfect bodies where everything fits the way it should.” (Blume, 79) and so she doesn’t feel pressured because she is at the apex. She doesn’t wish to associate with those who are not close to the center, so when Jill tries to place her desk by Donna’s “she [moves] hers away and whisper[s], ‘Who wants to sit next to B.B.'” (Blume, 135) Donna is also a leader, and uses her power to alienate those in the margins. “At lunch we went outside to jump rope and Donna taught everyone this jumping rhyme she used to sing to the fattest counsellor at her summer horse camp… Linda didn’t wait her turn… She ran back inside and didn’t come out at all during recess.” (Blume, 79-80). She enforces the margins along with Wendy, because she likes where she belongs in the hierarchy.

At Privet Drive, Dudley controls the hierarchy at school. As a result, “At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley’s gang hated that odd Harry Potter…and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley’s gang.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 27) He uses his position to make sure that everybody is a bystander to Harry. People might wish to defend Harry, but out of fear of Dudley and his gang, they won’t. Harry is then further isolated. and ends up “always [being] last to be chosen [for sports teams at school], not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 89) They do not want to exclude Harry, and they do nothing to make him either left out, or feel welcome; they ignore him and don’t speak up because of Dudley’s gang.

Outsiders are people who do not participate or get involved in the bullying at all. Some may have no awareness of the contact zone, and so may not participate because they are ignorant about the community, and may not be noticed. The outsider is not acknowledged at all. Unlike the victim who is teased, the outsider has no idea at all how the contact zones work, do not know their place or others in the circle.

One notable outsider is Rochelle in Blubber. “Rochelle…is a new girl” (Blume, 64) and so she doesn’t understand the way that the zones are structured in the school community. She makes sure that she does her best to keep out of the bullying, but when she does speak up “everybody turned to look at her because she never says anything. ” (Blume, 130). She also acts as a bystander: Although she “usually doesn’t pay any attention to the rest of us, [she enjoys] the show.” (Blume, 92). and is also warned by the bully to ” ‘Stay right where you are Rochelle!…I’m running this trial…and don’t you forget it.’ Rochelle waited to see what would happen next. And the rest of the class got very quiet.” (Blume, 130-131) when she tries to defend Linda. She comes very close to changing her role to that of the defender, but since she backs off and doesn’t do anything else, she remains an outsider. Rochelle represents a student who does not have strong enough connections to the people in the class to have any influence over their actions. “A student might experience empathic affect or feel efficacious to defend the victimized peer, but still not be able to act upon these emotions and cognitions, unless he or she has a secure position in the peer group.” (Pöyhönen et al.) At the end of the book, she is the one who has changed the least. It is noted that “Some people are always changing best friends…Still, it’s nice to have a regular friend in your class, even if it’s not a best friend. I ate lunch with Rochelle again. She’s kind of quiet but I get the feeling that a lot goes on inside her head.” (Blume, 152). She is cautious around her classmates herself, she neither hates nor likes anybody, and having just started at the school has no relationships with anyone yet. This works in her favour.

In Harry Potter, the group of bullies are made a joke of by Harry. “There was no escaping Dudley’s gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was their leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley’s favourite sport: Harry Hunting.” (Philosopher’s Stone, Rowling, 28) They are only an extension of Dudley, they are made fun of, seen as big and stupid; and only bully Harry as they have no other form of entertainment. They act together, and by being ‘quite happy to join’ Dudley, it seems as if they have no interests of their own.

Will’s cousin Sarah also advocates for making friends, explaining the way that the groups at school work. She tells Will that “What you need to do is make friends with the ones they don’t want. They are usually the thoughtful ones. Then you find out that the noisy ones are the only pains in the butt and they are generally the minority. Because they are so noisy they are the only ones we see, but when you start paying attention to the others , the noisy ones kind of disappear.” (Maracle, 35). Even though there are bullies, he ends up making friends with ‘the nerds’. As he builds his network of friends, the bullies actions don’t matter as much. When his culture is brought up by a teacher, and he declines to offer information “half the girls suck wind and hold. The guys try not to laugh.” (Maracle, 59) Reflecting on the way that they are bullied for their culture, the best defence according to Will is to keep closed off from everybody- try to make himself an outsider. “I do know about being Indian in a world that doesn’t really like people like me. The less they know about you, the less ammunition they have to hurt you.” (Maracle, 60). Sarah does not pay attention to the labels that they are given, and says that when they are called names “It’s a word…like fag. It doesn’t mean anything to him. It don’t mean anything to him. You don’t either, but if you treat him right, you will mean something. Then maybe you can challenge his language.” (Maracle, 81) The way they defend themselves is by ignoring them. They think of the bullies as “meat heads.” (Maracle, 37). and rather than having someone else defend them, defend themselves.

Adults try to stop kids from being mean but because of the binary of childhood/adulthood often adults don’t know what to do. They cannot locate the margins, so they do not know the source of the bullying. In Blubber after an incident during an assembly the music teacher attempts to use what power she has to stop bullying, by using her authority. She warns them that they have to “stay after school” (Blume, 66) but it is unsuccessful in stopping the bullying, as the group “knew she’d say something like that” (Blume, 66). The social order is more powerful than a threat. Adults do not have power over a child’s contact zone, and do not understand children’s contact zones or hierarchy because they are not a part of them. When adults try to understand, “nobody [pays] any attention.” (Blume, 9) and so collectively they are more powerful than adults because they understand the way the zones work.

Adults may make children’s contact zones worse by failing to understand them. It can be a source of embarrassment for children to meet in a place where their role in the social order, although defined; is different in another social situation. “[Mom] turned to Mrs. Fischer and said, ‘You look…familiar…have we met?’ I wanted to grab my mother’s hand and pull her out of the Ladies’ Room before it was too late… Mrs. Fischer shook Mom’s hand and smiled at me… they’re going to introduce me to Blubber, I thought…’You two must know each other,’ Mom said. ‘We do,’ I mumbled. ‘Oh are you the Jill Brenner in Linda’s class?’ Mrs. Fischer asked… ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘But…’ ‘Mom!’ Linda tugged at her mother’s arm. ‘Come on…’ When they were gone my mother asked, ‘What was that all about?’ And I told her, ‘We’re not exactly friends.'” (Blume, 107-108) Adults don’t understand that communities are set up the same way for children as they are for adults, because they see that there is a “child world” and an “adult world” they assume that the two are structured in different ways. When Jill attempts to tease Linda at the bar mitzvah in a different community Linda says “If you call me that today I’ll tell on you. I really will.” (Blume, 110). Her threat is successful, because in a different community, name-calling is not acceptable. They have to conform to the rules of the new community, one in which they are both equal.

Adults also don’t understand the language which children try to employ in their community. So when the class discovers a way to marginalize Linda at school as he “found some names for Linda in the Random House Dictionary…We called Linda ‘flubsy,’ ‘carnivore,’ and ‘bestial,’ I didn’t recognize any of them, but they all sounded good.” (Blume, 90) they feel powerful, even though they cannot really use the words correctly. At home, insulting doesn’t work because the knowledge of what happens at school is different from the knowledge of what happens at home. After a bad day, Jill tries to use the language she has learned at school to push her brother out of the margins at home.”I ran for my room, bumping into Kenny on the way. ‘Watch where you’re going,’ he said. ‘Shut up, carnivore!’ I shouted at him. I heard him ask Great Maudie, ‘What’s with her?’ Great Maudie sighed and told him, ‘A bad day, I suppose.'” (Blume, 138) The language has no effect because it is not something that is familiar in the community at home. Jill has no power at home, because the language is separate from the language used at school.

Bullying isn’t really about hurting someone. It is about trying to fit in and going to drastic lengths to gain power over someone and keep it. That is why Blubber is so effective, more so than the commercials. It isn’t about standing up to a bully, it isn’t even about telling a teacher. It is to make others aware of the fact that bullying does exist, and that everybody has a choice to either take part in it or not. “When there are certain practices …you want an assurance over social control. People can’t be running around doing whatever they want. This is a scary thing to think about. If we all acted upon our impulses….We have impulses… and we control them. And so that type of social control, in the Western World it’s external. You are continually being told what to do and how to do it. But what we also want and desire is an internal source of control. So that social responsibility of Paideia (civic duty) is a knowledge that when you’re on your own you have a responsibility towards the community. The problem is that there’s always external control and so what we’re not seeing is social responsibility taught from a young age.” (Humphreys, lecture) Bullying is merely an attempt to have external social control among groups of children. They wish to have control among themselves when adults are not available, so they create their own contact zones in their community. However, this is harmful when it goes to extremes such as with the Amanda Todd case and the Megan Meier case.

Most anti-bullying commercials or bullying awareness campaigns are targeted specifically for children. Rick Mercer’s report is different as it was broadcast on the news, which is known for its largely adult-based audience. He addresses the adults but at the same time, tries to speak to the kids. He explains how prevalent bullying really is, but uses humour to explain it in a way which is entertaining and more memorable. “If you Google ‘bully’, ‘Canada’, and ‘suicide’ you’ll get more hits than if you were searching for ‘Paris Hilton’ and ‘hotel room'” (Mercer). By using an example from popular culture to explain the magnitude of the situation, the issue of bullying no longer seems like a lecture, but an important issue which needs to be confronted. It would seem inappropriate if he were addressing an elementary school to be saying this; however his target audience is mostly adults: he wants them to think about bullying and how it affects children. The main point isn’t to diffuse the importance of the effect bullying has on people, but to make people reflect on the message, and one way to make sure that the message is heard to to make it worth listening to. Humour is used as a way to hold the viewer’s attention. When the attention is held, the issue will be thought about. As long as the issue is thought about seriously, it doesn’t matter what was done to create the awareness. He ends the clip with the same tone. “and if you’re being bullied in school because you’re different, please, tell someone about it, and remember, even in a real prison, eventually, everyone gets parole” (Mercer). By making adults aware of the issue of bullying, and the amount of suicides because of it; bullying is recognized not just as a problem for kids, but for everybody. Everybody needs to be aware of it to try to stop it. Each of these clips send out a message that bullying is wrong, but the message is given in a different way because there are different audiences.

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Works Cited

IMAGES (In order of appearance, everything else is in alphabetical order)

Galway, Elizabeth A. “Reminders of Rugby in the Halls of Hogwarts: The Insidious Influence of the School Story Genre on the Works of J. K. Rowling.”Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 37.1 (2012): 66-85. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://muse.jhu.edu/&gt;.

Pöyhönen, Virpi. Jaana Juvonen. and Christina Salmivalli. “What Does It Take to Stand Up for the Victim of Bullying?: The Interplay Between Personal and Social Factors.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 56.2 (2010): 143-163. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://muse.jhu.edu&gt;.

A word of caution. I am going to be talking about trauma. I will be analyzing children’s books and explaining how these stories can help children deal with trauma and others’ reactions to it. This post may offend some readers and/or contain ideas about sensitive subjects.If you have had trauma, you may want to go read something else.If you start to feel uncomfortable, please get off and go read something else.

Trauma is something that can happen to anybody. There is no age limit. Trauma can happen with veterans in war; it can happen to people who have been in natural disasters such as floods, fires, and earthquakes. Trauma can also happen to children. There have been books written for children to help them understand their traumas. Books about childhood traumas, such as child abuse, or bullying, or being in a strange place (such as Wonderland) can be a source of comfort to children. They realize that they are not alone through the use of these books. Authors, by writing about childhood traumas, acknowledge that trauma can happen to children- however the way the trauma is presented can offer an alternative view of childhood traumas.

Alice drinks the “Drink me” potion which makes her small enough to fit through the door into Wonderland.

In Alice in Wonderland Alice “must undergo severe emotional and physical stress before reaching maturity.” (Suchan.) She deals with being in an unfamiliar place, and “her abrupt changes in size [which] so confuse her that she constantly complains that she doesn’t know who she is from one moment to the next.” (Suchan). Even though this is “Wonderland” she is constantly questioning her identity, and arguing with the creatures in Wonderland who don’t act the way she expects them to. It throws her into confusion, and even though this is a dream she has made of her own, it is no less traumatizing. Alice tells her sister of her dream, and “the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare…shared their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering off her…guests to execution…the pig baby…sneezing on the Duchess’s knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it…the distant sob of the miserable Mock Turtle.” (Carroll, 103-104). It is frightening to Alice, but to her sister, it is a “change to a dull reality” (Carroll, 104). She dismisses Alice’s dream as an active imagination, and she thinks that Alice has “a simple loving heart of her childhood and….would feel ….simple sorrows and find pleasure in simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.” (Carroll, 104) Through the entire book, Alice has had to deal with her rapidly changing body, confusion and trying to fit into a new world, and stand up for herself in Wonderland. She has undergone a nightmare- a trauma, and her sister can do no more than think of it as something of nostalgia and wonderful. Alice’s journey is one of terror to the child; and her sister ignores it as a trauma, thinking of it only as a Wonderland. The title of the story, as a “Wonderland” is only for adults. These are very real fears and challenges that Alice goes through and overcomes in her nightmare- giving hope that others can overcome them too- at least until the last two pages of the story, where it is minimized. Carroll does address trauma through the focal point of Alice, but he makes a mistake by switching the narrative to her sister- Once he does that, it is no longer a nightmare- it’s a “Wonderland” and it’s silly.

This is one of the most popular pictures of Anne. She spends most of her time daydreaming,making up stories, and imagining things to cope with her trauma.

In Anne of Green Gables, Anne encounters trauma. However, the trauma is mentioned as taking place before the book. “After the deaths of her parents… Anne (whom, as she says, “nobody wanted . . . even then”) was taken in by two miserly women, the first with a “drunken husband,” and, at age eight, made to look after their young children, including “three sets of twins.” At age ten, transferred to the local orphanage, she suffers not only “in spirit,” but is deprived of basic nutrition: on meeting Matthew, she is “scrawny,” with a face “small, white and thin.” The shrewd Marilla is able to distinguish these details within the fuller picture of Anne’s history: ‘What a starved, unloved life she had had—a life of drudgery and poverty and neglect’ (Green Gables 38-40). These horrors are seemingly righted by the fact of Anne’s incorporation into Green Gables and the larger community of Avonlea; she will no longer be neglected or abandoned. However, the unconventional behavior Anne reveals is indicative of her struggle to overcome the ramifications of the severe trauma she has suffered, of a childhood that, even by Marilla’s strict standards, has been acutely damaging.” (Slater.) This has so affected Anne, that she uses her imagination to escape from her reality. She retreats into books, and she also has imaginary friends. “Out of trauma—that of her parents’ absence and her guardian’s violence—is born Katie Maurice, this other who looks like Anne but is decidedly not Anne… Anne… is not whole; it is Katie… who is the “whole [O]ther,” the image in which Anne may find refuge from the wounds of fragmentation, and postpone her inevitable confrontation with her alienated representation. Katie is… an unattainable image made even more impossible by nature of its utter unreality. While a healthier Anne might have…strived toward unification with the image “Anne,” the image “Katie” is always already made impossible, and it cannot be reconciled with due to Anne’s acknowledgment of it as Other. There is no danger here of Anne’s experiencing further pain from alienation. If her image is Katie, is Othered, she need not endure the anguish of irreconciliation. Katie Maurice, of course, is not the only extension of Anne’s body that Anne others. Upon leaving Mrs. Thomas’s for Mrs. Hammond’s, she creates “a little girl named Violetta” out of the echo of her voice in a nearby valley: “We were great friends and I loved her almost as well as I loved Katie Maurice . . . [Violetta] echoed back every word you said, even if you didn’t talk a bit loud” (Green Gables 53). Violetta, here associated with Katie by Anne herself, is clearly the aural equivalent of her mirror disassociation. Violetta, like Katie, is Anne—Anne purposefully misrecognized. That this Othering should extend beyond the visual to the aural demonstrates the severity of Anne’s dissociation.” (Slater). So, Anne creates her imaginary friends, not just out of needing someone when she is lonely to talk to, but she created them to escape. They aren’t just friends, they are parts of her that she wishes she could access, and only accesses at appropriate times. Marilla does not understand the need to escape-Anne can not talk about her experiences; so she needs an outlet which Marilla finds unsatisfactory. Marilla does not understand the trauma that Anne has gone through and the severity of it. Trauma is a big part of Anne of Green Gables, it is a big part of Anne, and she overcomes it through the stability of Green Gables. Stability is needed when dealing with trauma. Children learn through this book that imagination can help to lessen the pain of trauma, but it is not a substitute for a stable life. In order for something to be traumatic, there needs to be fear. “Fear is a liminal space, a sense of being neither here nor there, and about desiring that stability.” (Humphreys, lecture). Children learn that things can get better; Anne’s life got better when with Matthew and Marilla- it was a long process and there were many difficulties, but through perseverance and determination she was able to emerge as “Anne of Green Gables”- she had an identity, not as a lost, traumatized child, but as a girl with a home and a strong sense of community. With stability, she lost her fear; and so, by the end of the book, she is able to identify herself, not as someone who is unwanted; but as someone who is (somewhat) cared about by people who really do mean well.

James- who had no agency with his aunts, is the one who ends up saving the peach from the sharks and his friends from drowning with the idea of getting birds to lift the peach. He is given a chance to express his ideas and take leadership.

In James and the Giant Peach James also undergoes trauma. Roald Dahl attempts to diffuse the trauma with the two aunts, Spiker and Sponge, by using humour to show their true nature as lazy, vain adults. While that does help, James does not see anything humorous because he does not have the ability to see through their threats. They are horrible to him, he fears them. However, “Gothic children’s literature is about replacing fear with understanding.” (Humphreys, lecture). James never understands the aunts; he does not have the access which the reader is given. He is beaten and overworked by the aunts, and so when he is given a package with magic, which is promised to make “marvelous things start happening… fabulous unbelievable things” and promises him that “you will never be miserable again” (Dahl, 14) James takes it. He loses them and they vanish into the ground, but he learns that he doesn’t need magic. In the peach, he is immediately welcomed by the creatures. He is frightened by them at first, but is reassured that “We wouldn’t dream of hurting you. You’re one of us now.” (Dahl, 35). He has been accepted unconditionally by creatures that he has just met. Even though he has been called names, and hated by his aunts; there are people who accept him for his individuality. “James and the Giant Peach transforms the horrible and the frightening into possibility and positivity.” (Humphreys, lecture). There is no reason to be afraid of the insects, they’re not going to treat him like his aunts do. So, the book transforms the insects (frightening) into beings which are helpful and beneficial to the community. James is, by the end of the book, a part of a community. The book helps to highlight that events can be scary, but they are not going to be scary forever. There is a shift from his identity as “you disgusting little beast!” (Dahl, 2) into “Your name is James.” (Dahl, 37). Through the change of his identity, children learn that it is the aunts that are scary (to James), and not the insects. How things appear to be at first, may not be like that in the end. Although the way that Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge treat James seems normal, this is not something that should be expected from every person or creature. Loneliness is not forever, trauma is not forever, and children can regain the identity that they’ve lost through trauma.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter witnesses both of his parents being brutally murdered by Voldemort, (also known as “You-Know-Who”) as a baby, and is traumatized because of it. The way that all of the adults react is extremely inappropriate. McGonnagall asks Dumbledore, “How in the name of heaven did Harry survive?” (Rowling, 15) He survived not by his choice; he just survived by fate. There was no reason to be so enamoured at that. He was a child who survived a trauma, but he didn’t even realize he had. In the Wizard world, he’s treated as a star for undergoing his trauma, but in the real world he is treated like a nuisance by his aunt and uncle, for having undergone trauma. Without his trauma, his parents would not have died, and so he’s basically only living with his aunt and uncle because he had trauma. “Bad news…Mrs. Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.” She jerked her head in Harry’s direction…The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there-or rather, as though he was something very nasty…like a slug.” (Rowling, 21-22). He isn’t treated like a normal person. To be spoken about like a slug is demeaning, dehumanizing-as if there’s something perverse about him for having gone through what he has. Even people who mean well are conflicted. The Weasleys, who end up becoming Harry’s friends, see him first as the “famous Harry Potter”, instead of a person. The twins are the first to bring this to the attention of their mother: “Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?’….’You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?’ ‘Harry Potter!’….’The poor boy isn’t something you goggle at the zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?’ ‘Asked him. Saw his scar. It’s really there- like lightning.’ ‘Poor dear-no wonder he was alone. I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform.’ ‘Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?’ Their mother suddenly became very stern. ‘I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don’t you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school.’ ” (Rowling, 73) At first, she is horrified at Fred and George’s reaction to Harry, saying that he isn’t a “zoo animal”, but then she asks how they know, as if she’s trying to get information. She then seems to change her mind, and tells them to forget it happened. She is hypocritical- wanting to know about Harry as a “celebrity” but still feeling sympathy for him. There is no ‘in between’. He isn’t treated like a normal person. This book may help children who have undergone trauma, to understand that sometimes, trauma can affect views that people have of them. It isn’t their fault. It just happens, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. “Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up….He slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours’ time by Mrs. Dursley’s scream…nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…he couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ‘To Harry Potter-the boy who lived!'” (Rowling, 18). He has no control over how people treat him, whether they are in awe of him, or mean to him, he is helpless. The use of his scar which he received during his trauma can either make him a celebrity, like in the wizarding world and make him easily identifiable, or make him an outcast. I believe that the scar is a metaphor for trauma. “Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously-shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. ‘Is that where-?’ whispered Professor McGonagall. ‘Yes’ said Dumbledore, ‘He’ll have that scar forever.’ ‘Couldn’t you do something about it, Dumbledore?’ ‘Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Scars can come in useful.’ ” (Rowling, 16-17) At first, the scar is not visible, seeing as it is hidden beneath Harry’s hair; however, it is still there, and the adults worry about it. McGonnagall wants Dumbledore to remove it (perhaps take away Harry’s trauma,) but Dumbledore says that it can be useful. Trauma can offer a new way of thinking about things, it can serve as a reminder of things that have been faced before; it is part of a person’s life once they have experienced trauma. They have dealt with trauma, and they need to recognize it, rather than pretend it never happened. “The only thing Harry liked about his… appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it for as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it. ‘In the car crash when your parents died,’ she had said. ‘And don’t ask questions.’ Don’t ask questions-that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.” (Rowling, 20). Harry unconsciously also recognizes the need for the scar, but his Aunt would rather forget that it happened. “Once, Aunt Petunia… had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe which she left ‘to hide that horrible scar.’ ” (Rowling, 23) Her reaction to the trauma is as if it were something that he could have gotten over. It’s irritating to her; it’s a deformity. He is dependent on the Dursleys for information about his past, he has a desire to understand what happened but he is denied that right. “He’d lived with the Dursleys…as long as he could remember, ever since his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn’t remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn’t imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn’t remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course, he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relative coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet, sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him.” (Rowling, 27) Harry is dealing with memories of his trauma, but he doesn’t have the agency needed to explore them, and so, they remain repressed.

The Dursleys’ try to keep him from learning of his identity as a wizard, and ultimately reject the notion that he has had trauma, but Hagrid helps to give agency to Harry by contradicting the Dursley’s wishes, and treating him as someone who should learn the truth. “Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands…. ‘Ah, shut up Dursley, yeh great prune,” said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon’s hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.” (Rowling, 40). Hagrid takes the gun- a symbol of control, and literally bends it, making it inoperable. The statement here is that children shouldn’t be kept in the dark. They know when something has happened, and it’s best to tell them about it to help them heal.

Hagrid tells Harry about what has happened to his family. He does hesitate at first, but he is angry with the Dursleys for misleading Harry as well.”How could a car crash kill Lily and James Potter? It’s an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin’ his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!… I had no idea how much yeh didn’t know…. I don’t know if I’m the right person to tell yeh-but someone’s gotta…It’s best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh” (Rowling, 44) He understands the importance of understanding, of allowing a child to know what happens when they witness a trauma- even if the others around Harry would rather pretend that he hasn’t. This clip shows that kids do know when something bad has happened, and they are aware of when something is wrong, so in order to lessen fears, it’s best to be honest with them and not minimize the experiences they have gone through. “Something very painful was going on in Harry’s mind. As Hagrid’s story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before- and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life- a high, cold, cruel laugh.” (Rowling, 46). Through Hagrid’s story, Harry is able to remember more- it hurts him, but he understands why it is happening, and so his fears are not minimized by adults, but lessened by his newfound knowledge. Knowledge of trauma is a good thing, it isn’t good to repress memories or try to shield children from them. “Kids see consistently that horrible things happen, and can happen to them” (Humphreys, lecture). To deny that makes a child feel isolated, and as if there’s something wrong with them when in fact, it’s normal. It’s normal for a child to react that way; it’s normal to recover traumatic memories, and just because an adult says it didn’t happen doesn’t mean that the adult is right. “‘Everyone thinks I’m special…I’m famous and I can’t even remember what I’m famous for. I don’t know what happened…the night my parents died.’ Hagrid leant across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. ‘Don’ you worry, Harry. You’ll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning…you’ll be just fine. Just be yourself. I know it’s hard. Yeh’ve been singled out, an’ that’s always hard. But yeh’ll have a great time at Hogwarts.'” (Rowling, 66) Hagrid is very reassuring to Harry. His trauma doesn’t make him who he is. It is part of his identity, but it isn’t what defines him as “Harry.”

Harry is an instant celebrity because of his trauma. When he meets Ron on the train, the first thing Ron talks about is Harry’s scar. Ron is more interested in his celebrity status than in who he is as a person.”‘Are you really Harry Potter?’ Ron blurted out. Harry nodded. ‘Oh-well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George’s jokes,’ said Ron. ‘And have you really got-you know…’ He pointed at Harry’s forehead. Harry pulled back his fringe to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. ‘So that’s where You-Know-Who-?’ ‘Yes,’ said Harry, ‘but I can’t remember it.’ ‘Nothing?’ said Ron eagerly. ‘…I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else.'” (Rowling, 74). Harry realizes for the first time that his nightmares and his “green flash” are connected to his trauma, and so he is able to now offer an explanation for something which he hadn’t been able to before. HE is able to make the distinction of his nightmares being connected to his trauma. Ron is very guarded when talking about Harry’s trauma- he has been raised to fear Voldemort- however Harry has no fear, he just sees it as a name. He is ignorant about the complete details of his trauma, and he can’t really connect his fear with the people yet. “‘Until Hagrid told me, I didn’t know anything about being a wizard, or about my parents or Voldemort-‘ Ron gasped. ‘What?’ said Harry. ‘You said You-Know-Who’s name!’ said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed, ‘I’d thought you, of all people-‘ ‘I’m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,’ said Harry, ‘I just never knew you shouldn’t. See what I mean? I’ve got loads to learn.’ ” (Rowling, 75) Ron believes that Harry should be frightened of ‘You know Who’ but by giving a name to the person, the fear is lessened. “Harry…was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world but, it had been a lot more comfortable saying ‘Voldemort’ without worrying.” (Rowling, 80). Harry realizes this, and realizes that everybody is scared of “You Know Who”. It is easier for him to be scared once he realizes that he has a right to be scared of Voldemort, and that it’s okay to be scared of Voldemort.

I think that Quidditch is a metaphor for trauma. Harry has to be taught about his trauma, just like he needs to be taught about the game of Quidditch, how it is played, what his role is, and what he can do to win. “‘This… is the Golden Snitch and it’s the most important ball of the lot. It’s very hard to catch because it’s so fast and difficult to see. It’s the Seeker’s job to catch it. You’ve got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers and Quaffle to get it before the other team’s Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch…nearly always win[s]’… Harry understood what he had to do…it was doing it that was going to be the problem… a few minutes later, [Wood] and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch. Harry didn’t miss a single one.” (Rowling, 125-126) Harry needs to pay close attention to his trauma, he needs to try to figure it out. Others can try to support him, or “keep him from falling off”, but he is the one who has the responsibility to deal with it. He is the one who has gone through the trauma, nobody else can do his job for him- but they can support him. Ultimately though, he is the one who can “win the game”.

In Harry’s very first Quidditch game shortly after he learns the rules of the game, he is very eager to prove himself and a bit nervous. He is unsure of what to expect, but he knows that he would be the most likely to be injured, and he almost is. “Harry’s broom span off course, Harry holding on for dear life…In all the confusion…the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.” (Rowling, 138) Overcoming trauma can be very difficult, and a frightening experience for children. Often, dealing with trauma does feel like how Harry feels on his broom during the time when his broom is jinxed: “His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly… He’d never felt anything like that. It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off…Harry tried to turn back…he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time out- and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn’t turn it. He couldn’t direct it at all. It was zig-zagging through the air and every now and then making violent swishing movements which almost unseated him…No one seemed to have noticed that Harry’s broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went. ‘Dunno what Harry thinks he’s doing,’ Hagrid mumbled…’If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’d lost control of his broom…but he can’t have.’…His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on…Harry’s broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.” (Rowling, 139). He cannot control his broom, Hagrid is suspicious of this though, as he thinks that Harry is a good flyer. I believe this is a metaphor for the way in which adults think that children should be able to “bounce back” after seeing something horrific happen. However, Harry still manages to hold on to the broom, and does something that is “near impossible”. He manages to catch the Snitch even when his broom is out of control. “Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back on to his broom….He hit the pitch…coughed, and something gold fell into his hand. ‘I’ve got the Snitch!’ he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended.” (Rowling, 140-141). He wins the game, and the fear of falling changes to happiness at winning the game- much like the fear of trauma turning into one of acceptance. Children realize that it may be hard, but that they should not give up if because something bad happens.”They were all so impressed with the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick.” (Rowling, 143). Harry becomes a hero, and he is respected. His falling off the broom caused worry, but seeing how he was able to handle it made the rest of the school admire him because of the way he stayed on it. More important than almost falling off the broom was being able to stay on: It is important to recognize trauma, but equally, or maybe even more important is to be able to handle trauma. Children aren’t able to do that however, unless adults can determine that trauma has happened, or they are willing to recognize it and be supportive.

“Harry had taken one step…when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered… Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry…stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animal’s side, and began to drink it’s blood…The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry-unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came towards him-he couldn’t move for fear. Then a pain pierced his head like he’d never felt before, it was as though his scar was on fire-half blinded, he staggered backwards…The pain in Harry’s head was so bad he fell to his knees. It took a minute or two to pass. When he looked up, the figure had gone.” (Rowling, 187). Harry is frozen with fear. He is terrified of this creature; when he learns why, he is able to understand why he was afraid and unable to do anything. The continual message is that it is not something that can be controlled. To realize that trauma is just something that happens is the main objective for people who have gone through trauma: It is real, and scary, the world does not always fit into a perfect box, and for kids to see that is very nerve wracking, so stories such as this one is comforting. If Harry Potter, who is a wizard can eventually defeat his parents murderer, then why shouldn’t the trauma that the readers have be able to be overcome too? It would take time, but this book gives hope to those who have lost it.

Harry still goes to fight Voldemort, even when it seems as if he has lost the battle.

Despite having experienced trauma, Harry doesn’t let fear get in the way of what he has to do. He is very protective of his friends and his school, because it is where he is cared for, and he says to Ron and Hermione; “If Snape gets hold of the Stone Voldemort’s coming back!… There won’t be any Hogwarts…He’ll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!…If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I’ll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It’s only dying a bit later than I would have done, because I’m never going to the Dark Side! I’m going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents remember?” (Rowling, 196-197). He forgets about his own fears for the good of the wizarding world’s safety. This sends a positive message that trauma can be overcome- even though there is fear, he “was lucky once,” (Rowling 208) and he “might get lucky again.'” (Rowling, 208). Trauma shouldn’t stop a child from living. It shouldn’t stop them from doing what they want to, because it can be healed. Harry is able to fight Voldemort, and defeat him, find the Philosopher’s Stone, and save the school from Voldemort despite Harry’s previous fear of him in the Forest.

Through these books, children can realize that they are capable of being hurt, of witnessing or experiencing trauma. They realize that it is normal and that it doesn’t always have to be upsetting. They can have a voice, and regain the identity they have lost through their trauma. Trauma should never be kids stuff, but it does happen, and having authors recognize that in children’s books can help to break down the barrier of childhood/adulthood. However, the way that others around a traumatized child reacts- often unsure of what to do, can make the child and the adult feel uncomfortable, and create a distance when there doesn’t have to be one.

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Works Cited

IMAGES (In order of appearance, everything else is in alphabetical order.)

The concept of childhood, and binary thinking of childhood and adulthood has been questioned in books (subtly) throughout the past century. In Criticism and the Fictional Child, a paradox is raised about why the separation of children and adults still exists, and why it will continue to exist. “To children’s literature criticism, and many other areas concerned with children, children are more ‘children’ than they are ‘individuals.’ …Children’s literature repeatedly refutes this, claiming that ‘individuality’ is its priority above all else… This is precisely the claim which cannot be sustained and is undermined within the field itself…The ‘child’ is an ‘individual’ within the category of ‘childhood’.” (Lesnik-Oberstein, 166). Children are categorized as individuals in a group with children. They can be “individuals” among others of their own age, but with adults, they are not “individuals” but “children.” Children’s literature itself exists on the concept of having a category for children. Without children, there would be no need for children’s literature.

The cook, the Duchess, and Alice.

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice, as a child acts more mature than the adults around her. No one really pays much attention to Alice, or cares about her. In Chapter 4, when Alice meets the Duchess, the first thing that she notices is the room. “The door led right to the kitchen, which was full of smoke from one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting…in the middle, nursing a baby: the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup.” (Carroll, 44) She is exposed to chaos from the cook and the Duchess a few moments later. “the cook took to throwing the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything in her reach at the Duchess and the baby-the fire-irons came first; then followed…sauce-pans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them even when they hit her.” (Carroll, 45-46) The behavior is sudden and abnormal to Alice, but the people in Wonderland have no reaction to it. It is odd that an adult would disrupt a room for no reason, and Alice is the one to act like an adult, “jumping up and down in an agony of terror. ‘Oh there goes his precious nose!’ as an unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off.” (Carroll, 46) The roles are reversed: Alice, who is supposed to be an innocent child, is caring about the baby; whereas the Duchess and the cook who are adults; are rash, and out of control. The normal in Wonderland is abnormal to Alice, it is normal for adults to throw things around the room in Wonderland; but in the real world it is a very childish thing to do. The Duchess and Alice both break down the cult of the child. The cult of the child, seeing the baby as “innocent” as Alice does, is odd in the kitchen; as the others take no notice of the baby. The cult of the child, normal in the home, is ridiculous in Wonderland because the behavior of the adults is so abnormal.

The Duchess calls her baby suddenly a “Pig!” A few moments later, he turns into one. Children will become what their parents believe they will become.

The Duchess helps to strengthen both the cult of the child and the Puritan view of childhood through her way of nursing her baby. “She began nursing her child…singing a sort of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a violent shake at the end of every line: Speak roughly to your little boy, and beat him when he sneezes: He only does it to annoy, Because he knows it teases. (in which the baby and the cook joined): Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words: I speak severely to my boy, I beat him when he sneezes; for he can thoroughly enjoy the pepper when he pleases.” (Carroll, 46-47) There is humor in the way that the song is sung- The cook and the baby sing along after the Duchess sings, and the Duchess uses a gentle tone of voice, like a lullaby, even as she shakes her child and sings words which advocate Puritan ideals of “speaking severely.” She gives a reason for the shake which is nonsensical. Sneezing is a reaction which cannot be controlled- especially when pepper causes it. Through the use of the poem, and the description of the way it is recited; Carroll points out that it is the adults who decide how to treat a child, children have no control over how they are treated.

However, the breaking down of the barriers in the book contradicts with the reason the book was written. It was originally a story told on a boat for his friends three girls: “We like to think that [Carroll] invented the story to amuse the young girls, but more likely, he told the tale in order to keep them quiet, to stop them from squabbling, to hold their attention, or to interrupt a flow of irrelevant questions-or perhaps even to keep them from rocking the boat and annoying him.” (Cohen.) Carroll only wanted to keep them entertained enough so that they weren’t a nuisance. Although the book subtly advocates the breaking down of the barriers of adulthood and childhood, it only exists in “Wonderland” and not in the real world.

In Anne of Green Gables, the divide between the adult and the child is clear. Matthew is sympathetic to Anne from the moment he meets her; he doesn’t mind her talking, he likes her imagination, and he “was a kindred spirit” (Montgomery, 33) to Anne. However, it is disturbing how he thinks of her as “an interesting little thing,” and after meeting her, he had “much the same feeling that came over him when he had to kill a lamb, or calf or any other little innocent creature.” (Montgomery, 22) He does not see her as a person, but rather “an interesting little thing”-a child who amuses him. He feels bad that her feelings will get hurt, but he compares it to killing an animal. With this analogy, the idea of a child as an innocent creature is put forth. Matthew forgets that although she is a child, she is a person as well. The categorization of “adult” and “child” is not seen as an issue in the book as we see Matthew as an ally. The way he views Anne is inappropriate, but it is overshadowed by Marilla’s view of Anne.

Marilla constantly represses her feelings so that she is seen as an “adult” to Anne. She praises Anne when Anne is not around: “Matthew took a fancy to her. And I must say I like her myself… The house seems a different place already. She’s a real bright little thing.” (Montgomery, 63) She does not let Anne know that she likes her; and she surprises herself. Mrs. Lynde, is harsh to Anne, she speaks about her as if she weren’t there, calling her “terribly skinny and homely.” (Montgomery, 64) Anne defends herself, and after saying rude things about Mrs. Lynde’s appearance, says “I don’t care if I do hurt your feelings… I hope I hurt them. You hurt mine worse than they were ever hurt before…And I’ll never forgive you for it, never, never!” (Montgomery, 65) Marilla stands up for Anne after she sends Anne to her room. “You shouldn’t have twitted her about her looks, Rachel… I’m not trying to excuse her. She’s been very naughty and I’ll have to give her a talking to about it. But we must make allowances for her. She’s never been taught what is right. And you were too hard on her Rachel.” (Montgomery, 65-66). She does not let Anne see that she agrees with her. She thinks that Anne being “good” is more important than showing Anne that she cares about her. “You hadn’t any right to fly into such a fury and talk the way you did to her, Anne. I was ashamed of you-thoroughly ashamed of you. I wanted you to behave nicely to Mrs. Lynde, and instead of that you have disgraced me. I’m sure I don’t know why you should lose your temper like that just because Mrs. Lynde said you were redhaired and homely.” (Montgomery, 67). The narrator is able to tell us that Marilla knows how Anne feels. “She had been a very small child when she had heard one aunt say of her to another, “What a pity she is such a dark, homely little thing.” Marilla was every day of fifty before the sting had gone out of that memory.” (Montgomery, 67-68) Marilla does remember what it is like to be called names, and she understands why Anne responded the way she did to Mrs. Lynde. She does not want to condone it however, so she places distance between herself and Anne in order to focus on Anne’s behaviour. Marilla minimized Anne’s anger as she wished to enforce the idea of “childhood” and “adulthood” being separate. It is only though the narrator that the binary thinking collapses- through Marilla’s and Matthew’s actions and words, it is enforced.

Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan leave the Wardrobe after having their adventures in Narnia.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the four children, Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter, are “sent to the house of an old Professor.” (Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis, 9). He acts as the surrogate parent while they live with him during the war. It is the Professor who convinces the two older children that Lucy is telling the truth about Narnia. When the four of them come back from Narnia, he is “a very remarkable man, didn’t tell them to be silly or not to tell lies, but believed the whole story.” (Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis, 170). He is the first adult in the books we have read, to treat them as people, and not as children. He allows them to come to their own conclusions, and he does not judge them. The housekeeper however, enforces the cult of the child which the character of the Professor was meant to break. She was “not fond of children and did not like to be interrupted when she was telling visitors all the things she knew. She had said…on the first morning… ‘And please remember you’re to keep out of the way whenever I’m taking a party over the house.'” (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis, 51) The housekeeper hardly appears in the story, and is not as important as the professor is, either in status, or in the lives of the others in the house. It is easier then for the reader to be on the side of the Professor.

C. S Lewis enforces the boundaries between the children and adults however with the introduction of The Magician’s Nephew. The book describes how Narnia was formed, and the main character Digory travelled to Narnia at the beginning of its creation. “Digory was the sort of person who wants to know everything, and when he grew up he became the famous Professor Kirke who comes into the other books.” (Magician’s Nephew, Lewis, 38). He is the one who creates the wardrobe, even though “he could not bear to chop up the tree simply chopped up for firewood, so he had part of the timber made into a wardrobe…he himself did not discover the magical properties of the wardrobe.” (Magician’s Nephew, Lewis, 171) The Professor, had he not been to Narnia before and created the wardrobe which led Lucy to Narnia; would not have believed the children, and because C.S Lewis felt the need to write a book to explain the Professor’s behaviour in the Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the binary thinking of childhood and adulthood is still intact.

In James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl uses humour to challenge the power that adults have over children. He points out flaws that adults have; deconstructing them as human beings and not superhuman beings. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are cruel to James, but the fear that they would present if this was a serious book is taken away once their flaws are established. “They talked about themselves, each one saying how beautiful she thought she was. Aunt Sponge had a long handled mirror…she kept picking it up and gazing at her own hideous face. ‘ I look and smell,’ Aunt Sponge declared, ‘as lovely as a rose!….’But don’t forget,’ Aunt Spiker cried, ‘How much your tummy shows!’… Aunt Spiker said ‘My sweet you cannot win! Behold my gorgeous, curvy shape’…. ‘My dear old trout,’ Aunt Sponge cried out ‘You’re only bones and skin!’ ” (Dahl, 6-7) The aunts not only talk about how lovely they are; proving that they are vain, but they also put down the other. It is hard to take them seriously, as they act very immature themselves; so what power they did have when the narrator said they “beat poor James” (Dahl, 2) is gone.

They’re not to be taken seriously. What they say is not to be taken seriously. They lose their power because their view of themselves is not correct.

Even when it looks as if James is about to get into trouble, he doesn’t get into trouble. ” ‘Beat him!’ cried Aunt Sponge. ‘I certainly will!’ Aunt Spiker snapped… ‘I shall beat you later on in the day when I don’t feel so hot.’ ” (Dahl, 9) They only get James to fear them by using empty threats. They are too lazy to do anything. If James were to realize that the aunts are only fearful because he allows himself to fear them; their power would be gone. The aunts realize that they can make James fear them, because he is a child and supposedly doesn’t have the intelligence to really see what they are like. He can only see them as scary; he has to believe them because they are adults. If the binary thinking of childhood and adults were really broken down, their threats would not work on James; and he would question them just as the reader does.

At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter’s story, told with the help of an omniscient narrator, actually presents the Dursleys first- and so the first glimpse we get- a negative glimpse of Harry, is from someone whose opinion might not be very important anyway: “The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son…but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.” (Rowling, 7). They have opinions of Harry that we can dismiss instantly as false, because we know that the Dursleys’ judge first before even seeing him. They don’t even take the time to learn his name. “He was sure there were lots of people with a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure his nephew was called Harry. He’d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.” (Rowling, 9). So, we have a depiction of adults as extremely separated from the child. They know nothing about Harry, they want nothing to do with Harry, and they make it their mission to pretend to be as distanced from him as possible. “‘Their son, he’d be about Dudley’s age now, wouldn’t he?’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Mrs. Dursley stiffly. ‘What’s his name again? Howard, isn’t it?’ ‘Harry. Nasty, common name if you ask me.’ ‘Oh yes…I quite agree.'” (Rowling, 11). So, Mrs. Dursley does know Harry’s name, even if she says it is “common.” It doesn’t make sense: They are “normal”, however, Petunia is irritated by the “common” name of Harry. There is a discrepancy: They wish to appear normal, however when their nephew is given a normal name, they are irritated by it. Harry is ignored by the Dursleys, and they pretend that he doesn’t exist, but they still keep him anyway. “Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all…..Only the photographs on the mantlepiece really showed how much time had passed…Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy…The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house too. Yet Harry Potter was still there.” (Rowling, 19). They make an effort to pretend that Harry doesn’t exist; but that doesn’t change the fact that he is there. They try to keep things as “normal” as possible, they resist change for ten years since the introduction of Harry into their lives- however, there is one thing that the Dursleys forget. In Harry Potter, we don’t value normalcy- we’re taught through the book that Harry is a wizard- he should be separated from the Dursleys, because he is part of a better, magical world. One where he is accepted and cared for. The negativity of the Dursleys is replaced by the positivity of Hogwarts and the Wizard World. It is a better place, one with friends and people who care about him. We only get these positive people in the Wizarding World however, and once back into the real world the gap between the child and the adult is apparent again. The binary thinking of adult and child is not broken, there’s a reversal: instead of the adult’s voices taking over, it’s the child’s- the adults don’t matter. We learn not to value them at all.

In this clip, Harry is a baby. It is different from the book- we are able to see the way the Wizard world views Harry first- and get a sense of his character as a child right away. We can feel sympathy for him the minute we see him. McGonnagall calls them “The worst sort of Muggles imaginable.” We don’t see the Dursleys, this is the first we ever hear of them in the movie, and the first view we have of them is not from what they think, but what someone else says of them. We don’t meet them until shortly after; and then we can judge for ourselves whether they are really “the worst sort” or if the perception of them is exaggerated. We get the shot of Harry in the cupboard for a split second; and realize that he has aged with the people. By getting a chance to see right away what is meant when Mr. Dursley says “like that” we realize that his perceptions are off. He isn’t condemning or disliking somebody who is mean or dangerous, just different. We see Harry’s world first- then go into the real world with the Dursleys. It isn’t about the adults not being paid attention to- it is about Harry understanding exactly that there is another world- a world where he is cared for. (We hear Dumbledore telling Hagrid not to cry). From the very beginning, it isn’t about the Dursleys pretending he doesn’t exist, it’s about Harry finding a place where he is comfortable.

Adults can not treat children as people without categorizing them unless there is a specific reason. It is expected that categorizing children as children, separated from adults is normal. When an author breaks those boundaries, there needs to be a reason as to why they do so. This defeats the purpose of breaking the binary thinking of adult and child, and strengthens the concept of childhood as a mystery to adults.

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Works Cited

IMAGES (In order of appearance, everything else is in alphabetical order.)